<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of the size, type, or specialty of the business, success often comes down to three things, all of which are interrelated:
<\/strong>
<\/h6>\n\n\n\nCulture<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s nothing particularly novel about this concept. Most any CEO will tell you that his or her organization is \u201ccommitted to creating a culture in which employees are empowered and excellence is rewarded\u201d<\/em> or something along those lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe\nbest-performing companies<\/strong>, however, nurture\nmission-driven environments in which the enterprise takes on the personality of\nits team members, and vice versa.<\/strong> These values guide the how and why behind everything the organization\ndoes and, in turn, helps to attract and retain clients who share similar\nbeliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut what,\nexactly, does \u201cculture\u201d mean? More\nimportantly, how does any company bring structure to something so intangible? It\nstarts at the top, with the C-suite executives showing that their focus extends\nbeyond the bottom line to include the personal and professional development of\ntheir employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For\ninstance, many high-performing companies strive to create a collegial\natmosphere, a haven in which everyone celebrates team achievements,\ndefines individual career paths, and respects the contributions of all.<\/strong> Quite\noften, they also encourage\u2014and make opportunities for\u2014employees to engage in\nservice initiatives throughout the communities in which they live, work, and play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Newsletter-Graphic-10-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nTo underscore the importance of culture, the best companies write it into their DNA. Literally<\/em>. Mission and vision statements, core values, purpose\u2014anything and everything that communicate the central tenets that guide the organization\u2014serve to establish and reinforce culture. This is expertly discussed in Simon Sinek\u2019s book Start with Why<\/em>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s also essential to partner with an established branding and\nmarketing firm to help create (start-ups) or refresh (more established\nenterprises) these cornerstones of culture and values. Once these principles are in place, they support the company\u2019s\noverall strategic plan and help to create customer connections that drive the\norganization forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside the office and out, culture-centric organizations are devoted to improving the lives of their employees and, by extension, their clients.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\nIn sports, there\u2019s no substitute for talent. When all other factors are equal, teams comprised of superior athletes will consistently outperform those with lesser-skilled players. The same principle applies in business!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter how\ngreat your products or services may be, if you don\u2019t have highly skilled and\nmotivated professionals to sell, support, and sustain your offerings, the\nenterprise will never reach its full potential. Little wonder why recruiting\ntop talent is the operational challenge that keeps\nmost leaders (perhaps even you) up at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the stakes, the\nmost successful companies invest a substantial amount of time and resources to\nattract, hire, and retain A(+) caliber talent.<\/strong> They understand that\ninvesting in a professional recruiting business partner to help them identify,\nrecruit, and hire key members of their commercial operations team is a small\nprice to pay for the peace of mind and return on investment that top talent can\ndeliver to an organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOf course, it\u2019s\nnot enough to simply have the best employees on your team; once you\u2019ve assembled\nyour core group of talent, you should invest in professional, ongoing\nreinforcement sales and leadership training (think Sandler Training<\/a>) and other programs designed to maximize\nperformance. <\/p>\n\n\n\nFrom onboarding to team-building exercises to periodic meetings and coaching programs, world-class coaching and mentorship hone business fundamentals and solidify the foundation upon which each team member\u2019s\u2014and, by extension, your company\u2019s\u2014success is built. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Truth is, the importance of having the best men and women in place to execute your strategy has never been greater. COVID-19 has disrupted traditional modes of doing business in ways none of us could have imagined, making relationship-building, remote selling, and closing sales more challenging than ever. This dynamic won\u2019t change in the foreseeable future; in fact, things may never return to what we considered \u201cnormal\u201d before the pandemic.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Process<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\nContinuing with the sports metaphor, picture a professional football franchise that commits countless dollars and man-hours to assemble the most talented group of players in the league. Success is imminent, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Newsletter-Graphic-11-1-1024x512.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nNot necessarily. Skills notwithstanding, this \u201cteam\u201d will never\nproduce optimum results on the field without well-conceived offensive and\ndefensive schemes to practice and execute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, many organizations with game-changing products or services make these types of fundamental mistakes when they double down on recruiting, sales, marketing, and product launches before<\/em> developing or re-establishing a cohesive commercial operations strategy to effectively foster, manage, and support rapid revenue growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\nC<\/strong>ompanies that\nachieve greatness<\/strong>, on the other hand, focus on building the foundation of their\nbusiness prior to raising large sums of capital or expanding rapidly.<\/strong> They take a measured, methodical\napproach to growth, ensuring they have the right people and<\/em> procedures\nin place to achieve goals while remaining agile enough to anticipate and adapt\nto change.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo position your organization for long-term sustainability, you\u2019d\ndo well to spend a great deal of time and resources in the short term\ndeveloping absolute clarity around the five W\u2019s: who<\/strong> you serve, what<\/strong>\nproduct or service you provide, why<\/strong> customers should trust you (your\nunique value proposition),<\/em> where<\/strong> you want your company to go, and when<\/strong>\nand how you intend to get there. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter you\u2019ve answered these questions, work with your founders, boards of directors, investors, senior leaders, and other advisors to understand your financials, secure and allocate venture funding, establish cash flow and reimbursement plans, and create go-to-market strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, collaborate with your team\u2019s frontline managers to align processes with an overarching strategic plan that all employees can use as a definitive roadmap.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although adhering to these three guidelines won\u2019t guarantee your organization hits all of its goals, one thing is certain: <\/em>ignoring these areas will magnify any operational shortcomings. <\/em><\/strong>
<\/h6>\n\n\n\nHowever, by learning from the experience of others and applying the lessons to your own business, you can position your company for long-term, growth-oriented success.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anniversary or not, that\u2019s a gift that will keep on giving, year after year.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Lee Kester is the CEO + Founder of <\/em>Kester Search Group LLC<\/em><\/a>, a consultative talent acquisition firm that specializes in executive search and commercial expansion projects for diagnostic, medical device, and healthcare technology companies throughout the United States. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen he and this team aren\u2019t helping clients build great companies, you can probably find Lee spending time with his wife, three children, family, and friends; fly fishing; watching Georgia Bulldogs football; or playing golf. Lee can be contacted via email at <\/em>lee@kestersearch.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As our team at Kester Search Group celebrates the firm\u2019s seventh anniversary, rather than seeking recognition or slaps on our collective backs, we decided to share several pearls of wisdom that we\u2019ve collected over the last seven years. These aren\u2019t merely our thoughts and experiences. They\u2019re the best practices we\u2019ve gleaned by spending thousands of hours… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,73,79,36],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2310,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions\/2310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
There\u2019s nothing particularly novel about this concept. Most any CEO will tell you that his or her organization is \u201ccommitted to creating a culture in which employees are empowered and excellence is rewarded\u201d<\/em> or something along those lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nbest-performing companies<\/strong>, however, nurture\nmission-driven environments in which the enterprise takes on the personality of\nits team members, and vice versa.<\/strong> These values guide the how and why behind everything the organization\ndoes and, in turn, helps to attract and retain clients who share similar\nbeliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what,\nexactly, does \u201cculture\u201d mean? More\nimportantly, how does any company bring structure to something so intangible? It\nstarts at the top, with the C-suite executives showing that their focus extends\nbeyond the bottom line to include the personal and professional development of\ntheir employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For\ninstance, many high-performing companies strive to create a collegial\natmosphere, a haven in which everyone celebrates team achievements,\ndefines individual career paths, and respects the contributions of all.<\/strong> Quite\noften, they also encourage\u2014and make opportunities for\u2014employees to engage in\nservice initiatives throughout the communities in which they live, work, and play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To underscore the importance of culture, the best companies write it into their DNA. Literally<\/em>. Mission and vision statements, core values, purpose\u2014anything and everything that communicate the central tenets that guide the organization\u2014serve to establish and reinforce culture. This is expertly discussed in Simon Sinek\u2019s book Start with Why<\/em>.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also essential to partner with an established branding and\nmarketing firm to help create (start-ups) or refresh (more established\nenterprises) these cornerstones of culture and values. Once these principles are in place, they support the company\u2019s\noverall strategic plan and help to create customer connections that drive the\norganization forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside the office and out, culture-centric organizations are devoted to improving the lives of their employees and, by extension, their clients. In sports, there\u2019s no substitute for talent. When all other factors are equal, teams comprised of superior athletes will consistently outperform those with lesser-skilled players. The same principle applies in business!<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter how\ngreat your products or services may be, if you don\u2019t have highly skilled and\nmotivated professionals to sell, support, and sustain your offerings, the\nenterprise will never reach its full potential. Little wonder why recruiting\ntop talent is the operational challenge that keeps\nmost leaders (perhaps even you) up at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the stakes, the\nmost successful companies invest a substantial amount of time and resources to\nattract, hire, and retain A(+) caliber talent.<\/strong> They understand that\ninvesting in a professional recruiting business partner to help them identify,\nrecruit, and hire key members of their commercial operations team is a small\nprice to pay for the peace of mind and return on investment that top talent can\ndeliver to an organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, it\u2019s\nnot enough to simply have the best employees on your team; once you\u2019ve assembled\nyour core group of talent, you should invest in professional, ongoing\nreinforcement sales and leadership training (think Sandler Training<\/a>) and other programs designed to maximize\nperformance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From onboarding to team-building exercises to periodic meetings and coaching programs, world-class coaching and mentorship hone business fundamentals and solidify the foundation upon which each team member\u2019s\u2014and, by extension, your company\u2019s\u2014success is built. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Truth is, the importance of having the best men and women in place to execute your strategy has never been greater. COVID-19 has disrupted traditional modes of doing business in ways none of us could have imagined, making relationship-building, remote selling, and closing sales more challenging than ever. This dynamic won\u2019t change in the foreseeable future; in fact, things may never return to what we considered \u201cnormal\u201d before the pandemic. Continuing with the sports metaphor, picture a professional football franchise that commits countless dollars and man-hours to assemble the most talented group of players in the league. Success is imminent, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not necessarily. Skills notwithstanding, this \u201cteam\u201d will never\nproduce optimum results on the field without well-conceived offensive and\ndefensive schemes to practice and execute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, many organizations with game-changing products or services make these types of fundamental mistakes when they double down on recruiting, sales, marketing, and product launches before<\/em> developing or re-establishing a cohesive commercial operations strategy to effectively foster, manage, and support rapid revenue growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n C<\/strong>ompanies that\nachieve greatness<\/strong>, on the other hand, focus on building the foundation of their\nbusiness prior to raising large sums of capital or expanding rapidly.<\/strong> They take a measured, methodical\napproach to growth, ensuring they have the right people and<\/em> procedures\nin place to achieve goals while remaining agile enough to anticipate and adapt\nto change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To position your organization for long-term sustainability, you\u2019d\ndo well to spend a great deal of time and resources in the short term\ndeveloping absolute clarity around the five W\u2019s: who<\/strong> you serve, what<\/strong>\nproduct or service you provide, why<\/strong> customers should trust you (your\nunique value proposition),<\/em> where<\/strong> you want your company to go, and when<\/strong>\nand how you intend to get there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After you\u2019ve answered these questions, work with your founders, boards of directors, investors, senior leaders, and other advisors to understand your financials, secure and allocate venture funding, establish cash flow and reimbursement plans, and create go-to-market strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, collaborate with your team\u2019s frontline managers to align processes with an overarching strategic plan that all employees can use as a definitive roadmap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n However, by learning from the experience of others and applying the lessons to your own business, you can position your company for long-term, growth-oriented success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Anniversary or not, that\u2019s a gift that will keep on giving, year after year. When he and this team aren\u2019t helping clients build great companies, you can probably find Lee spending time with his wife, three children, family, and friends; fly fishing; watching Georgia Bulldogs football; or playing golf. Lee can be contacted via email at <\/em>lee@kestersearch.com<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As our team at Kester Search Group celebrates the firm\u2019s seventh anniversary, rather than seeking recognition or slaps on our collective backs, we decided to share several pearls of wisdom that we\u2019ve collected over the last seven years. These aren\u2019t merely our thoughts and experiences. They\u2019re the best practices we\u2019ve gleaned by spending thousands of hours… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,73,79,36],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2225"}],"version-history":[{"count":65,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2310,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2225\/revisions\/2310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kestersearch.com\/insights-and-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nPeople <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\nProcess<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although adhering to these three guidelines won\u2019t guarantee your organization hits all of its goals, one thing is certain: <\/em>ignoring these areas will magnify any operational shortcomings. <\/em><\/strong>
<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Lee Kester is the CEO + Founder of <\/em>Kester Search Group LLC<\/em><\/a>, a consultative talent acquisition firm that specializes in executive search and commercial expansion projects for diagnostic, medical device, and healthcare technology companies throughout the United States. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n